President Andrew Jackson on Central Banks (or why the Fed is bad)

by vivin

I came across a few quotes that illustrate why Central Banks (like the Fed) are bad. I think they accurately describe the economic situation that Americans face today. These are from president Andrew Jackson; the only president to abolish the Central Bank and the only president who got rid of the national debt (all emphasis is mine):

The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government … are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it. —Andrew Jackson

I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country. —Andrew Jackson

Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. —Andrew Jackson

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. —Andrew Jackson